Night Music

WESTBOUND -- The tremendous demand from music lovers in west Broward has convinced the Philharmonic Orchestra of Florida to create a new concert series in Plantation. The two concerts have been organized for residents in western cities who find it inconvenient to travel to Fort Lauderdale`s War Memorial Auditorium or Taravella High School in Coral Springs where the Philharmonic performs most of its Broward County concerts. The performances will be at South Plantation High School at 8:15 p.m. Feb. 26 and at 8:15 p.m. March 16. One of the programs will be a "George Gershwin event.

The city doesn't want America's Backyard playing music into the wee hours of the morning, but a special magistrate says that position is "unreasonable and unfairly burdens" the outdoor nightclub in the city's special entertainment district. Venues in the district are allowed to stay open until 4 a.m., but the city says there can be no outdoor music or entertainment after midnight on weekdays and after 1 a.m. on weekends. Special magistrate E. Hugh Chappell Jr., in a report last month, said the the city's concern should be the noise level, not the entertainment being provided.

The approach to Side by Side by Sondheim has never been easy. All that genuflecting weakens the knees. The problem has only gotten worse in the quarter-century since the show's London and New York premieres; Stephen Sondheim, whose reputation was then nascent, has since been enshrined as this era's pre-eminent composer-lyricist, commercial flops notwithstanding. Actors love the drama of his lyrics. Singers love the challenge of pushing those complex lyrics over the motocross-like course that is a Sondheim melody.

When you're especially fond of an effervescent big-budget musical like "The Drowsy Chaperone," you sit in local productions holding your breath. But you can exhale at the Broward Stage Door the moment you hear Dan Kelley's wry delivery of the line "I hate theater" and the full-throated tap-dancing cast crooning the opening numbers. As star and director, Kelley has nailed the deceptively difficult tone of "Drowsy" — an affectionate spoof of 1920s paper-thin musicals mixed with a joyous message about the power of artistic artifice to enrich our troubled lives.

Like a fiddler playing a little night music on an unsinkable showboat, the sounds of Broadway melodies soon could fill the air in this Camelot. And it would be nothing like a shop of horrors to those guys and dolls who regularly rip out their greased hair to pay taxes. Taxpayers would be able to jump on the carousel without paying a penny. In a unanimous vote on Wednesday, city commissioners asked their seven-member Art and Culture Committee to review Commissioner Kitty Thibault's request to establish an all-volunteer concert orchestra.

Florida Stage will be part of theatrical history Oct. 12 as one of at least 50 and likely as many as 100 theaters simultaneously perform a one-night reading of a new sequel to the shattering The Laramie Project. Playwright Moises Kaufman and his colleagues at the Tectonic Theater Project are organizing the cross-country staging of The Laramie Project: Ten Years Later. The 80-minute play is an "epilogue" to Tectonic's documentary-style drama about how the 1998 gay-bashing death of Matthew Shepard affected the Wyoming community.

Though the appointment of Joseph Silverstein as interim music director is imminent, Monday's concert at Boca Raton Community Church showed that those in charge of the Florida Philharmonic have a ways to go to restore some semblance of professionalism, both administratively and musically. Due to a communications snafu, the church threw out all of the programs, leaving audience members clueless about the evening's works and guest artists -- an apt symbol of the confusion, amateurishness and uncertainty that currently reign in the troubled organization.

BJORK: Homogenic (Elektra) Bjork is back and better than ever on her fourth album, Homogenic. Strings and orchestras combined with hip-hop provide the majority of the background music, fronted by the singer's energetic vocals. "It's the record that's closest to the music that I hear in my head. It's closest to what I am," Bjork recently told Spin magazine. Bjork flew off to El Madronal, Spain, to record her latest masterpiece, allowing her avant-garde fashion to take over the small town.

When you're especially fond of an effervescent big-budget musical like "The Drowsy Chaperone," you sit in local productions holding your breath. But you can exhale at the Broward Stage Door the moment you hear Dan Kelley's wry delivery of the line "I hate theater" and the full-throated tap-dancing cast crooning the opening numbers. As star and director, Kelley has nailed the deceptively difficult tone of "Drowsy" — an affectionate spoof of 1920s paper-thin musicals mixed with a joyous message about the power of artistic artifice to enrich our troubled lives.

In 1966, the Beach Boys had a hit on the charts called Sloop John B, which was a remake of a folk song said to originate from the West Indies in 1927. In 1994, Sloop John B is a beach bar facing the Atlantic Ocean. This breezy, Key West-style saloon is a neighborhood pub in a tourist area. If you have a picture of a power boat you want to display, donate it here as a wall decoration. Many of the interesting decorative touches are customer contributions. Sloop John B's attraction is its spontaneity as much as its nautical design, seafood and weekend music.

It's OK to party at Fort Lauderdale's newly redeveloped beachfront. Just do it quietly. A special magistrate for the city found this past week that the posh W Hotel's club, Whiskey Blue, violated the noise law with late-night music and gave the club a warning. The city redeveloped its central beach in recent years from a strip of T-shirt shops and dive bars to a place where high-rise luxury resorts draw top-dollar guests. But there remain some complexes of apartments or condos, grandfathered in at the tourist-destination beach.

The Gable's going to the Grove, Florida Stage is going to the Kravis, the Caldwell and Burt Reynolds' Institute were reborn, New Vista and the Sol closed. The Carbonells nearly died but were rescued, donors disappeared but subscribers hung on, the average age of the audiences dipped as Boomers and their adult children left theaters with standing-room only. And, once again, South Florida enjoyed some of the best regional theater in the nation. Here's a look back ... Some of the Best Shows of the Year: Copenhagen (Palm Beach Dramaworks)

Florida Stage will be part of theatrical history Oct. 12 as one of at least 50 and likely as many as 100 theaters simultaneously perform a one-night reading of a new sequel to the shattering The Laramie Project. Playwright Moises Kaufman and his colleagues at the Tectonic Theater Project are organizing the cross-country staging of The Laramie Project: Ten Years Later. The 80-minute play is an "epilogue" to Tectonic's documentary-style drama about how the 1998 gay-bashing death of Matthew Shepard affected the Wyoming community.

This play is the best! On a par with Shakespeare in lyrical poetry, both playful and intellectual. The music - a literal waltz/operetta of melodies floating with cultural grace. And finally, the joining of lyrics and music, spawning an excellent lullaby that buoyed the mesmerized audience into a delicate standing ovation at the Stage Door Theatre in Coral Springs. Such is the utter hypnotizing miracle of "A Little Night Music," with music and lyrics by wizard Stephen Sondheim, who also composed music and lyrics for the Broadway hit "Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street!"

Elegant middle-aged couples in tailored tails and billowing gowns swirl outside a mansion to lush waltzes while singing witty observations about sex, love and regret over roads not taken. We are in adults' territory here, and the Broward Stage Door Theatre's surprisingly solid production of Stephen Sondheim's A Little Night Music, is a treat to exhilarate the mind and thrill the emotions of audiences yearning for more than Hello, Dolly! You can wish that Stage Door had a bigger budget to take everything up a notch.

Watershed events tend to stick in the memory, whether they're world-changing or simply culture-altering. I can, for example, tell you where I was on the evening of Feb. 9, 1964: sitting upstairs in my bedroom, parked in front of a tiny black-and-white television with a screaming friend, watching the Beatles make their American TV debut on The Ed Sullivan Show. That moment comes flooding back, fast and with surprising force, if you share a similar memory and happen to catch Beatlemania Now!

The New World Symphony performed two rewarding concerts last weekend. The first, Friday evening at Gusman Cultural Center, contained some decidedly unusual repertoire. On the podium was Lukas Foss, distinguished composer, pianist and conductor, who came up with an interesting, all-American first half of the program. Chadwick`s Jubilee, written in 1895, is a delightful work, colorfully orchestrated and full of distinctly American tunes. True, it owes much to the European masters of the day, but it can stand quite solidly on its own. There is no excuse for American orchestras to ignore such music.

TV's instant bride has filed for an annulment, saying that her quickie marriage to a multimillionaire was a fraud and that he never mentioned he "had a history of problems" with women. Darva Conger said in court papers filed Tuesday in Las Vegas that the marriage was never consummated and that she and Rick Rockwell barely saw each other on their honeymoon. "Neither the contestants nor the show's producers seriously contemplated creating a proper marriage," she said. Rockwell, 42, selected Conger, 34, from among 50 contestants on the Fox TV special Who Wants to Marry a Multi-millionaire?

To kick off the new year, Tamarac's annual "Twilight Concert Series" gave attendees a night of music and enjoyment out in the open air. Visitors lined up with their blankets, snacks and chairs listening to the sounds of the rock group Rise. The event is an opportunity to kick start the new year and celebrate all that Tamarac has to offer. "[The concert is] no frills, family fun. It provides our residents a chance to reconnect with their family members and friends with quality time, enjoying music and entertainment in our city park," said Charlene Nevadomski, special events manager for the city of Tamarac.

Congrats to Todd Wiley and the Fort Lauderdale Gay Men's Chorus on their wonderful concert on Oct. 22. We're so lucky to have this group of supremely talented singers right here in Broward County. The fact that Barbara Cook was the special guest certainly speaks to the musical caliber of the organization. It was a full house at the Au-Rene Theatre, and the love and admiration between the chorus, Ms. Cook and the audience made for an electrifying evening. What a special night. Vickie Schwisberg, Coral Springs